It was a strange game on Saturday at Celtic Park versus Hibernian, it’s not often that the Celtic Goalkeeper in named Man of the Match in a domestic home match, especially after winning 3-0, but for Big Kasper it could have been an embarrassing defeat. The first half defensive display was poor to say the least, it’s great being disciplined in keeping the ball and passing out of defence, but you always have to remember, the first rule of defending is to keep the ball out of your own net.
If we find ourselves struggling a bit in the first half, I always believe that if we are still in the game, Brendan will make the necessary changes at half-time to sort things out, with either substitutions or tweaks in the system, or even both, so it was much better in the second half, and it also tells us there is more work to be done in training at Lennoxtown. It was good to see Arne Engels get on the scoresheet, and the goal by Kyogo was a thing of beauty, there are more big games to come, so it’s really important to have a squad of players who you can call on at any time, I think we may need one or two more in, and a few out, but we’re not far away.
It’s been a magnificent start to our season so far, to have managed eleven clean sheets from fourteen games is top drawer in any company, and in any country. I thought we might struggle to replace Big Joe Hart, who was brilliant for us for three seasons, but in Kasper Schmeichel we have actually improved, Kasper is very good with the ball at his feet, while we all know Big Joe didn’t like to have to play out from defence. We have two big games this week, there are no easy games in the Champions League, especially away from home, but hopefully we will do well in Zagreb. Then we have the League Cup Final on Sunday versus Sevco, who are trying to win their fourth major trophy in their short history.
I am confident if we play to our capabilities on Sunday we will come home with the League Cup, but it’s not only about the players, the match officials have a big part to play in deciding the destination of the Trophy. Once again John Beaton has been given the job of Referee, Alan Muir is in charge of VAR, and I believe Steven McLean is the fourth official. I’m pretty sure none of the three, and for that matter, the two linesmen, McGeachie and Bell as well will have been sending letters to Santa when they were younger asking for a Celtic Jersey, this is what we are up against in Scotland. Let’s look at England, referee David Coote verbally abused Jurgen Klopp on video, he was immediately suspended from officiating. While in Scotland Beaton is bevvying in Sevco supporter’s pubs, and has supporter’s clubs named after him. That would never be allowed in any other country but Scotland.
Despite the efforts of the Scottish Football Authorities, and their Match Officials, they have failed to stop “The Famous Glasgow Celtic” dominating Scottish Football. We are not only dominating on the pitch; we are dominating in the Boardroom where the business side is done. With the excellent stewardship we have, we can look forward to continuing our domination of Scottish Football for the foreseeable future.
Glasgow’s still Green & White
